National Museum of Singapore

Founded in 1887, the National Museum of Singapore is the country's oldest museum, though its curatorial approach is anything but old-fashioned. Conceived as a people's museum, it holds eleven objects designated National Treasures, and its Singapore History and Living Galleries were built around the idea that history is better experienced than recited.

The institution reopened in December 2006 after a three-year redevelopment that joined its nineteenth-century building to a contemporary extension on the same site. Alongside exhibitions, it runs a year-round programme of festivals, art installations, performances and film screenings, supported by dining, retail and a resource centre.

Its centrepiece is the 2,800-square-metre Singapore History Gallery, covering the fourteenth century to the present. Visitors choose between two routes: one following major national events and public figures, the other telling the same period through the lives of ordinary people. An audio-visual guide is available in four languages, with a separate version written for children.

As an ASEMUS member, the museum used the network to make its exhibition programme visible to audiences across Asia and Europe.

Collection size: 108,371 items, excluding component parts, as recorded in March 2011.

Collection areas: ceramics; oil paintings and watercolours; works on paper including engravings, aquatints, lithographs and books; photographs; textiles; and objects relating to everyday and folk life.